Julie Benz One Tough Lady; Three Tough Jobs

Even though Julie Benz made her acting debut way back in 1990, it was
how she did it that would mark her for life. It was a small speaking
role in a Dario Argento film, Two Evil Eyes. Although she would go on to do some standard sitcoms and guest appearances on such dramas as Law & Order and NCIS, she truly made her bones, if you will, in the fantasy/'genre' realm.

First, Benz garnered some serious recognition as the evil Darla in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, a role she would return to in the spin-off, Angel. She also appeared in a recurring role in the short-lived sci-fi series Roswell. Since then she’s been working hard and steady, taking on projects ranging from S.Epatha Merkerson’s Lackawanna Blues to her now main job on Showtime's Dexter as Rita Bennett.

If time has proven anything, she has now a well-earned reputation as an
actress with quite a bit of range. She also isn’t afraid of the tough
roles, roles where she doesn’t mind getting her face shoved in the mud.
She’s also a bit of a workaholic.

In a recent interview in support of the release of the Rambo
DVD, the friendly and open actress entertained our questions not only
about working with Sly Stallone on that film, but about her Buffy past and her work in the upcoming Saw V and Punisher War Journal films, which from her accounts tested her physical and mental limits to the extreme…

NEWSARAMA: Julie, I recently interviewed a voice actress named Grey Delisle, who did 24 different TV series last year…

JULIE BENZ: Wow!

NRAMA: Yeah. Anyway, when I asked her why she did so much, she
said she’s always afraid of work drying up. Would you say that’s a
motivation for you, too?

JB: Definitely I’ve been an actress for 23 years and I quickly
realized that work comes in waves. You have a couple of years where you
work a lot. Then you have too much down time. It affects everybody and
everybody goes through it. So when the work is flowing you learn to
enjoy every moment of it.

NRAMA: Now are you still working on Dexter or is that over with?

JB: No. We’re getting ready to start our next season next week. In fact, I report on June 2.

NRAMA: Isn’t this like the third successful franchise you’ve been involved with?

JB: I guess. I’ve been very lucky when it comes to television.

NRAMA: How’s that shaping up?

JB: I know absolutely nothing about the third season. They don’t tell us anything until we start rehearsing.

NRAMA: How would you describe your character on Dexter for people who don’t know?

JB: Rita is basically the moral compass, which allows the other
characters to love Dexter. She is an extremely damaged woman but still
has this hopeless romantic quality to her.

NRAMA: A big turn from Darla wouldn’t you say?

JB: A very big turn. Rita and Darla are opposite ends of the spectrum for sure.

NRAMA: Just out of curiosity. Do you keep track of all your
former Buffy buddies. Your former love interest, Dave Boreanaz, is
doing pretty well these days.

JB: I do! I keep in touch with a lot of the cast from Buffy and Angel.
For instance I was in Jenny Mollen’s wedding. I was one of the
bridesmaids. I see Charisma Carpenter all the time. All of them. We
were pretty tight because we all kind of grew up together.

NRAMA: What about Sarah in the new Rambo movie?

JB: Sarah is very different. I mean there are similarities
between her and Rita in that they are full of hope. Sarah though is
more faith-oriented. She’s a missionary after all. She believes in a
higher power. She also wants to take care of others. She’s also not
afraid of danger. She has a lot more courage than Rita.

NRAMA: Would you say it was different to play Sarah. Usually most of your characters have something dark in their past.

JB: It was actually very nice to play someone who didn’t have
anything dark; a woman who believes in what she believes in. Now Sarah
also happens to be very, very experienced. She’d have to be in her line
of work. I imagine though if she were a real person, her experiences in
the movie would have changed her forever. I don’t think she could ever
go back to what she was before it.

NRAMA: I was going to go there. The body count in this Rambo film was amazing. Was it a rough shoot for you?

JB: It was a very rough shoot. For starters we shot in the
northern part of Thailand, which was as close as we could get to Burma.
It was the first time I ever worked in a situation where there were
constant death threats made. That was completely bizarre. We had real
armored vehicles with real soldiers around us besides the fake ones on
the set. It didn’t take us long to realize we were half-way around the
world without much protection if things went bad.

NRAMA: Not to mention all the pyrotechnics going on in the shoot.

JB: That was actually fun. When I signed up for the movie, Sly
walked up to me and said make sure when we shoot certain scenes it’ll
be my face in the dirt. He was also really adamant about me being in a
scene when a building blew up right beside me. So I thought, ‘OK. I’ll
always try a new thing once.’ If I got scared, I knew I could call on
my stunt double, Heidi, to take my place.

As it turned out, there was only one stunt that really freaked me out.
There’s a scene where I was being held under water by the soldiers. I
found out I get very claustrophobic when that happens. So after we did
three takes I said enough, I couldn’t do another one.

From what I understand, I wasn’t the slightest bit calm when I called
for my stunt double. I was hyperventilating and really, really crying.
Even Sly could see I couldn’t take anymore.

NRAMA: So how was it working for Sly?

JB: You know, he’s really an amazing filmmaker. I learned so
much about what it takes to be a film icon from him. His dedication to
the work and his image is amazing. I’ve never seen anyone so dedicated.
He basically supervised every frame of film. His passion for what he
wants is tremendous. It raised the bar to me, for sure.

NRAMA: Now the Newsarama readers would come after me if I didn’t talk to you about Punisher: War Zone. First off, what an interesting cast. You have Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle and Dominic West as Jigsaw…

JB: Dominic is really an amazing character actor. Also, I think
Ray Stevenson brings a lot of weight and pathos to his role as the
Punisher. He plays the darkest Frank Castle you’re ever gonna see. It’s
a much darker movie. Dominic West is just terrifying as Jigsaw. He was
both terrifying and charming, if that is believable. I had such a great
time with the two of them. Both men are incredibly talented and I was
in awe being in the same film. I think this will be the one to really
launch the franchise.

NRAMA: Well, your character of Angela isn’t exactly a saint, either.

JB: They’re not playing her that way. She’s the wife of a cop,
an undercover cop. She’s definitely pissed off at everybody because of
something that happens to her in the movie. Still, she’s a mother first
and foremost and she will do whatever it takes to protect her daughter.
She’s got a little more edge to what I usually play. It’s also the
first time I had to do an accent, I hope I did a good Italian-American
one. Still, she is not a passive player like Sarah. She won’t let
herself be a victim no matter what the situation. She will take action
first.

NRAMA: So what was that shoot like?

JB: It was nothing compared to Thailand. When you’re dealing
with 120 degree heat, it’s nothing, even when you’re doing minus 20
degrees in Montreal. I mean there was one scene where we were filming
in this grain silo and it got so cold it actually was snowing inside.
It was actually colder inside the grain silo than outside it. It was
cold!

NRAMA: Speaking of movies with followings, you also just did the latest Saw.

JB: Yes. That was also a tough shoot for different reasons. I
play a woman named Brit who is a real estate developer. I like to think
of her as a thoroughbred. She’s very career driven. Now that movie was
more psychologically driven. In fact, I would say it was
psychologically damaging, especially for the actors. It’s a scary
movie.

NRAMA: Well, it is Saw…

JB: Yes! And if you think it’s scary to watch, try being in one.
It gets ya. I think this one is scarier than the last four. The traps
on this one are spectacular. There are so many surprises in this one.
It’s just going to blow your mind. It blew my mind being in it.

NRAMA: Well, is there a single original character from the first Saw around? Are any of them still alive?

JB: Yeah. It’s tough. To tell you the truth, it’s the first
movie I ever did where I wound up having nightmares while filming. I
mean not your normal actor nightmares like being on set, forgetting
your lines and completely naked. I mean I was reliving scenes that were
in the story.

NRAMA: Like you are one of the people tied to one of those traps?

JB: Ummm….I’m not saying if I am or not. I just know I had problems sleeping after that shoot.